Wednesday, June 17, 2009

This list is meant to be an all inclusive list of trinkets providing mana regeneration for raiding Resto Druids. It is meant to be ordered from best mana regen trinket to lesser mana regen trinkets. As such, I am very much open to comments and criticism. I want this to be the best list possible and applicable to as many raiding druids as possible.

This list is meant to only compare trinkets providing mana (Other trinkets to come later, untill then check outtheseposts.) I compare trinkets on their mana regeneration first and foremost. When the regeneration provided by two trinkets is close, I looked at Spellpower as a tie breaker.

Why a list on mana regen trinkets at all? First, because the crazy proc chances and use effects of trinkets make them fun to compare and graph : P Second, because they can proved so much mana on one piece of gear. If you need more mana for one fight you may be able to get what you need by swapping just one trinket instead of picking up a whole new set of gear.

Who should use this list? Only people who need more mana regen, even if it is just on a few fights. If you don’t ever ever ever need more mana, you need to consider trinkets offering use effects and spellpower that I don’t go into on this list, (but hope to list soon.)

How do you use this list?Start at the top and work your way down! Trinkets at the top are better. Find the one closest to the top that you can most easily get your branches on.

Assumes 1.2 sec between casts. This trinket as all about reducing the cost of each spell you cast, so the more you cast, the more you save. Less casting means less saving. If you get this trinket, don't purposefully cast more. That may just dig yourself in OOM deeper, like the person who buys tons of stuff they don't need because it is on sale. If you buy it/cast it you are still spending money/mana, so only buy/cast if you need to. But if you have to buy/cast you might as well do it when its on sale.

I was hoping it wasn't a type-o when I first saw it. I am not disappointed. This trinket was made for us trees!

Also assumes Aert’s most recent Ulduar raid cast ratios. Swiftmend and Nourish heavy healers will get a little more out of this. Rejuv and Regrowth heavy healers will get a little less. You don’t actually save 42 mana per every cast because this trinket is applied before talents. This table is what you will actually save with ToL’s 20% mana reduction to HoTs and Tranquil Spirit's reduction to direct heals.

With this trinket you build a stack of buffs that gives you mana back for a limited amount of time. Get the most out of this trinket by using it every 2 minutes when it is up and cast instant cast spells to build the stack up fast. It is better to cast earlier in the use effect than later. Even if you don’t keep building the stack you will keep getting mana.

If Spark of Hope is like shopping when stuff is on sale, this trinket is like save for retirement. It is better to save/stack when you are young/early in the proc, because even if you don’t keep saving/stacking, what you saved/stacked will keep gaining interest/mana.

Assumes a 1.2 sec cast time. The more you cast, the more mana and spellpower you get - except now we arn't shopping on sale or saving for retirement. With Darkmoon Cards we are playing the lottery. I believe in the statistics of WoW (we cast SO many spells that we can use statistical averages) and the cost (casting a spell) versus reward (healing someone and maybe getting some mana back!) in WoW is such that I think Darkmoon Cards are totally worth it.

There is a 35% chance that any spell you cast will proc this trinket. However, there is a 45 sec internal cooldown, meaning that AT THE MOST the trinket will proc once every 45 sec. Set up a timer to watch when it procs. From the start of the proc until 45 sec after the start of the proc you will not proc this trinket again, so cast sparingly if the fight is all about the mana. After the 45 sec, cast like heck because a 35% chance a a really good chance to proc.

Yes you want the Int one. With replenishment it will give you more mana than the spirit one. Remember, it will only proc spirit if spirit is your highest stat.

If +103 Int will push your Int above your spirit, this may not be the card for you. Still want it? Try enchanting and gemming for more spirit. Don’t want to make a major gear change? See if Kreeg’s Stout Beetdown or a friend with mistletoe makes the difference too.

Scales so much with cast time and gear that it is hard to distill this trinket into one little paragraph. It was also nerfed badly in 3.1. Most people who will opt for this trinket probably won’t have the gear levels (think fully Naxx geared) to get mana regen quite that high, which is why I put it below Darkmoon Card Int. However, as you become fully Naxx geared, you would see your regen surpass what Darkmoon Card Int can provide.

This card does not have an internal cooldown the way the Darkmoon Card Greatness cards do. Blue Dragon has a 2% chance whenever to put your mana regen outside the 5 sec rule. When this procs, keep casting. It would be a waste to sit outside the 5 sec rule with this up.

If you have Spirit World Glass (while it doesn’t make it onto the top of my list in own right) rocks with Blue Dragon. If you are having serious mana issues, wait for Blue Dragon to proc, then use Spirit World Glass.

2% proc chance to reduce the cost of your next by 800, but our most expensive spell is Lifebloom, which is 782 mana (with ToL’s 20% mana reduction to HoTs and Tranquil Spirit's reduction to direct heals). The more you cast the more you save. You also save more if you are casting more expensive spells, like lifebloom and regrowth and save less if you are cast cheep spells like rejuv and nourish.

This card has the same extreme scaling 2% proc chance dependent on cast time that Blue Dragon has, but it still gives you a set 75 spellpower, which rocks. That's why I ranked it above the next three cards.

Warning - if you are running with Spark of Hope you don't get to save mana twice, so this trinket would give you about 3 MP5 less (or 62 MP5).

I can think of very few reasons why a resto druid should not be able to keep this trinket fully stacked all the time. It would have to be a very busy fight. That’s a lot of yummy spirit to increase our tree regen and spellpower.

I put this after Majestic Dragon Figurine because at cast times greater than 1.6 seconds it does not perform as well as MDF, while MDF will give you consistent regen and spellpower, provided you can cast often enough to keep stacks up.

Assumes a 1.2 sec cast time. The more you cast, the more mana and spellpower you get. Please see what I wrote above about proc'ing Darkmoon Card Int (Spirit Proc), the same rules apply.

You only want the spirit one if you do not normally have replenishment. Warning – Blizz developers assume replenishment for raid encounters. But if you typically run 5 mans, this might be for you. Remember, it will only proc spirit if spirit is your highest stat. Or you may want the spirit version if you want

If +103 Int will push your Int above your spirit, this may not be the card for you. Still want it? Try enchanting and gemming for more spirit. Don’t want to make a major gear change? See if Kreeg’s Stout Beetdown makes the difference too.

Watch for this ‘deadly’ combination. I put this as best last for mana because resto druids really should not be proc’ing the Int buff. Our gear is itemized such that if your Int is higher than your spirit, you are ‘wasting’ a lot of itemization on Int that should be spent on Spirit. We just get more bang for our buck from Spirit.

Please see what I wrote above about proc'ing Darkmoon Card Int (Spirit Proc), the same rules apply.

If you are proc’ing the Int buff you really need to do something to up your spirit, at least in raids, especially if you are having mana issues. DO NOT just strip gear of Int. That is never helpful. Instead REPLACE Int Spirit gems and enchants, roll/bid on gear with high spirit not high Int. Grab yourself some Spirit Scrolls, some Kreeg’s Stout Beetdown, or a friend with Mistletoe – something until you can pull your raw Spirit up.

Effective spellpower assumes spellpower from spirit for being inTree of Life,

Effective mana regen includes raw MP5,replenishment,and regen from spirit and int. Mana regen is a rough estimate - but it should remain more or less proportional when comparing gear.It is a rough estimate since spi/int regen will vary slightly depending on the amount of spirit and int you have currently. I assumed 1250 spirit and 1050 int raid buffed before equipping the new gear. I went with lowish numbers, because you are taking off the piece of gear you are about to replace.

I personally haven't had any mana issues outside of dying at the beginning of a fight (which only happens if the tank isn't paying attention) then having to pop innervate after a brez. I do want the Spark of Hope though for the future.

In a 25 man raid (assuming even class composition) I'm at a 1sec GCD. I go further down the balance tree that most resto druids to get 3/3 celestial focus. On most fights in ulduar I *rarely* get a break for one reason or another so I'm constantly taking advantage of that gcd. This is why I would like that trinket because its worth even more in 1sec gcd cases.

I guess I should mention that I currently use straight throughput trinkets. Illustration of the Dragon Soul and that +SP & hot on direct cast trinket from Naxx. Although I don't get much use of the hot, that spellpower certainly is nice.

@Falling - I know what you mean! We had IDS drop once for us and it went to another Resto Druid. I can't complain there, because he uses it, but I want one too!

@Master - I think most druids can push themselves down to a 1sec GCD, I just chose to use 1.2 to allow for some moving around. I don't have a lot of mana issues either... but then again... I have ALWAYS run with a mana regen trinket (DMC:BD, now Spark) because of luck of the drop mostly. I definitely need to get my leaves on some better throughput trinkets this time around. Egg of Mortal Essence is really just lazy of me...

I was lucky enough to get the IDS soon after hitting 80 from a pug :D . I must have hacked the game or something because I won the roll out of about 10 people!

I ran into the first time ever that I was concerned about my mana last night. About 20 of us went to SWP last night in the first part of 2 days to get our achievement. On Felmyst we had 3 healers and (only) 1 priest to mass dispel. Needless to say, I was pumping so much healing to the raid (I must have had rejuv on pretty much the entire raid) during the entire encounter I went through 2 entire mana bars by the time we got her down. I was about ready to start getting other druids to innervate me again! Felmyst only flew up once, so its not like the fight was taking forever either :P

Added Soul Preserver. I... can't believe I blew off that proc at first... This may be the new Bangle of Endless Blessings, in that its a blue but it probably should be a purple. (Okay calling it Bangle is a little extreme. I just miss my Bangle!)

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About Amy

I've been playing WoW since Easter Sunday 2005, coincidentally the same day I became engaged to my forever husband and tank Chad, aka Yakra. I have held the roles of druid class officer, healing role officer, and general secretarial type officer in two guilds. Currently, I am not playing WoW. When I'm playing, my blog, like my life, is casualcore PvE healing focused. (I love gear math!) When I'm not playing WoW... well, I can't quite tell you what this blog will be about since I have never blogged while not playing WoW! Expect to see reflections on being a married WoW player and on just being married, stories from my other RP adventures (LARPing and table top), and accounts of my life's most meaningful activity: teaching chemistry.